Immortal Zugzwang Game

The « Immortal Zugzwang Game » is a 1923 chess game between Friedrich Saemisch and Aron Nimzowitsch, played in Copenhagen. It is called that because the final position is sometimes considered a rare instance of zugzwang occurring in the middlegame. According to Nimzowitsch, writing in the Wiener Schachzeitung in 1925, this term originated in « Danish chess circles ».

13. Nxc6
Samisch sacrifices two tempi (exchange of the tempo-eating Knight on e5 for the Knight which is almost undeveloped) merely to be rid of the ghost.

13. … Bxc6 14. h3? Qd7 15. Kh2 Nh5
I could have supplied him with as yet a second ghost by …Qe7 and …Knight-d7-b6-c4, but I wished to turn my attention to the King’s side.

16. Bd2 f5! 17. Qd1 b4! 18. Nb1 Bb5 19. Rg1 Bd6 20. e4 fxe4!
This sacrifice, which has a quite surprising effect, is based upon the following sober calculation: two Pawns and the seventh rank and an enemy Queen’s wing which cannot be disentangled – all this for only one piece!

21. Qxh5 Rxf2 22. Qg5 Raf8 23. Kh1 R8f5 24. Qe3 Bd3 25. Rce1 h6!!
A brilliant move which announces the Zugzwang. White has not a move left. If, e.g., Kh2 or g4, then R5f3. Black can now make waiting moves with his King, and White must, willy-nilly, eventually throw himself upon the sword.

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Objections to the sobriquet

Andrew Soltis has objected to the characterization of this game as « the Immortal Zugzwang Game », explaining: « First, Saemisch could have moved one of his pieces, even though it would have returned the sacrificed piece to Nimzovich. The game could have then proceeded for a good long time after that with Saemisch gaining some breathing space. But, secondly, the game doesn’t constitute a true zugwang because at the very end Nimzovich had a threat to win his opponent’s queen. What makes zugzwang such a painful death is that the deceased is executed not by a threat but by his own suicide. » Similarly, Wolfgang Heidenfeld wrote, « zugwang, in the proper meaning of the term, does not enter into the game at any stage. In the final position Black threatens […R5f3], against which White has no reply. » Raymond Keene wrote in his biography of Nimzowitsch, « This is the so-called ‘Immortal Zugzwang Game’. I prefer to see it as an example of total paralysis of the opposition; the ultimate express of prophylaxis, where the opponent’s possibilities are reduced to that degree above zero required to avoid stalemate. »